Uncovered bones are a hot find from the Ice Age

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Source: Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune
RICHARD MERYHEW

John Ackerman wasn't looking to dig up history as he crept through the cold, wet southern Minnesota cave that spring afternoon in 2008. A longtime caver, the 54-year-old Farmington man simply wanted to dig out some sediment to see where a newly discovered side passage might lead.

But the prehistoric stag moose antler he and two friends unearthed that day and a saber-tooth cat skull they found two months later may be the most significant paleontological discoveries in the Upper Midwest in years.

Scientists say the fossils are the first of their kind discovered in Minnesota, meaning that both ice-age mammals, long extinct, ventured farther north than previously thought.

"What is incredible about these finds is that there is a window into Minnesota's natural history that we didn't even know existed," said David Mather, national register archaeologist with the Minnesota Historical Society. "It's mind-boggling to think of what might be there."

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